This invention is used in the orthodontic dental field and, more particularly, is an arch wire dispenser and method to store and dispense orthodontic arch wires. Arch wires are generally U-shaped or parabolic shape, are formed of shape memory alloys and usually have a circular or rectangular cross section. In addition to the numerous cross sectional shapes, arch wires come in different shapes, sizes and strengths. They are an integral part of the orthodontic office treatment and are therefore kept at each chair side location in close proximity to the patient and within easy reach of the treating doctor or assistant (technician).
Arch wires usually come from a manufacturer in non-sterile packages, in groups of five to ten or twenty wires. In practice, the original packages are kept at the chair side location where the wires are removed from said packages or are organized and displayed in sets on racks or other displays visible to the technician. When an arch wire is needed, the treating technician selects the desired wire from the display rack. In the process of removing a wire from the rack, the remaining wires can and do become contaminated by the surrounding air, and by any contact between the hands or gloves of the technician and/or cross contamination from the patient either directly or indirectly as a result of the technician's contact with the patient. Likewise, when the wires are organized on a display rack, they come into contact with the ambient air or as previously stated, they come in contact with contamination from the technician or indirectly from another patient.
This invention prevents non-selected, remaining arch wires from becoming contaminated as will become obvious in the light of a description of the embodiment of this invention that follow.
Applicant conducted a patent novelty search. The following prior art patents were found, but do not disclose the novel dispenser system of the present invention.
French Patent No. 736,938 patented May 11, 1932 discloses means for dispensing pointed projectiles, possibly pencils, but with no means to limit their free fall from an apertured opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 857,274 to Gabasio, issued Jun. 18, 1907, discloses a match box dispenser for delivering a few matches at a time as opposed to the present invention only delivers a single device. Further, this patent discloses side flanges N are used to direct the dispensed article, but that do not control the orientation of the dispensed article.
What appears to be U.S. Patent to Martin, that appears in hand writings on the document to have issued Jan. 9, 1879, discloses a similar device as disclosed by Gabasio.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,744,195 to Alland, patented Jan. 21, 1930 discloses a cigarette dispenser to discharge stored cigarettes which completely drop from the container by gravity.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,226,626 to Mann, patented Dec. 31, 1940 discloses a cracker dispenser where crackers are horizontally placed in tiers. Though the crackers may be removed one at a time without touching the others, more than one cracker is available for removal at a time through opening 17, and thus contamination of the remaining crackers is not prevented.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,918,167 to Lowen, patented Dec. 19, 1957, discloses a pill or tablet dispenser, which is a plug for insertion into a conventional container. The plug includes an inner passageway constructed and arranged to allow only a single pill or tablet to pass freely out of the dispenser.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,207,564, issued to Patrick et al., patented Sep. 21, 1965 discloses a wire dispenser where the wires are stored in tubular containers, such that several wires within the tubular container are exposed and all are touched when removed from opening from the exposed end through aperture slot 46.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,212,670 issued to Tint et al., patented Oct. 19, 1965 recognizes the need of dispensing sterile prepackaged medical devices without affecting the sterility of the other needles remaining in the package. However, Tint's device dispenses round needles from a tubular bodied container, and, therefore, does not deal with the problems of dispensing flat objects.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,693,806 to Lit et al., patented Sep. 26, 1972 discloses a rotatable dispenser including a pair of disks, which has a large capacity for different kinds of materials to dispense bundles of precut lengths of wire from a single dispenser.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,325 to Pawlowski et al., patented Oct. 9, 1979 discloses a dispensing carton of articles to be stacked in an array and assuming an angular disposition within the carton.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,447 to Greenspan, patented Jul. 23, 1985 discloses a device to dispense a pill through a pair of juxtaposed openings.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,334 to Steele, patented Feb. 17, 1987 discloses a gravity-fed dispenser where the weight of the stacked items to be dispensed forces the item through a dispensing aperture toward a hand-engageable position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,251 to Andreasen, patented Feb. 13, 1990 discloses generally parabolic shaped arch wires having shaped memory alloys, but does not disclose or discuss means of storing and/or dispensing an arch wire.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,082 to Adell patented Nov. 5, 1991 discloses a generally U-shaped orthodontic arch wire of circular cross section, but does not disclose or discuss means of storing and/or dispensing an arch wire.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a dispensing device for storing orthodontic arch wires which will prevent contamination of the non-dispensed arch wires while dispensing an arch wire one at a time.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a dispenser holder to hold several dispensers chair side in an organized manner.
It is an object of this invention to provide a method of storing, distributing and then dispensing arch wires.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a dispenser that is economical to manufacture and that is of simple construction.